HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 14: Natalie Portman attends the "Queen & Slim" Premiere at AFI FEST 2019 presented by Audi at the TCL Chinese Theatre on November 14, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)
Natalie Portman will play the first female (and vegan) Thor in the upcoming Marvel Studios film, “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
News of Portman’s role broke this weekend at San Diego Comic-Con during a panel in which it was confirmed that Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson would return for the fourth Thor film. It’s directed by New Zealand filmmaker Taiki Watiti, who also directed “Thor: Ragnorak” and “Avengers: Endgame”.
Portman, who plays astrophysicist Jane Foster in the MCU, made a surprise appearance and was handed Thor’s hammer, symbolizing that she would take up the mantle of the God of Thunder. “I’ve always had hammer envy,” Portman told the crowd.
Foster became the first female (and mortal) Thor in the comics as well during a 2014 storyline when she picks up the Mjölnir after the god is no longer able to wield it. She became Thor, the Goddess of Thunder, and served as a member of the Avengers for a short while.
“So thrilled to share the news with you today at #sdcc2019 that I’ll be returning to the @marvel #mcu as female Thor with legends @taikawaititi @tessamaethompson and @chrishemsworth. (Remember this as the before picture for when I get jacked),” Portman wrote on Instagram.
She won’t be the first to get superhero-worthy muscles eating nothing but plants. Hemsworth adopted a plant-based diet while training for his role as Thor.
Portman has a wide variety of screen credits, from her role as Padmé Amidala in the first three “Star Wars” episodes to her Academy Award-winning performance as an overworked ballerina losing her grip on reality in 2010’s “Black Swan.”
The 38-year-old actor is also a longtime vegan. She narrated and produced the 2018 documentary “Eating Animals,” an adaptation of novelist Jonathan Safran Foer’s book of the same name.
“What the movie goes into a lot is factory farming, which is 99 percent of how all animals — dairy, and eggs included — are raised,” Portman said on the “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in June 2018. “Also, it’s like the number one source of pollution, more than cars, anything else.”
Portman has also addressed the intersection of veganism and feminism. During this year’s WE Day — an annual youth empowerment event — she spoke about her personal revelation before an audience of 16,000 students at the Los Angeles Forum.
“Only after I became active in women’s issues did I realize that my veganism was related to those very issues,” Portman said. “Dairy and eggs don’t just come from cows and chickens, they come from female cows and female chickens. We’re exploiting female bodies and abusing the magic of female animals to create eggs and milk.”
“Thor: Love and Thunder” is slated for a fall 2021 release.
This post was last modified on October 17, 2021 11:33 am